Milwaukee streetcar plan passes committee

A Milwaukee committee passed separate resolutions Thursday approving the proposed streetcar system and using the Cathedral Place tax incremental financing district to fund the city's $9.7 million contribution to the $64.6 million project.

Only aldermen Jim Bohl and Michael Murphy voted to oppose the streetcar proposal at the Steering and Rules Committee meeting. The plan still needs federal and full Common Council approval.

Murphy and Bohl raised concerns over the transparency of cost estimates and recent revelations that moving underground pipes, tunnels and cords for the project could mean anywhere from $10 million to $65 million in additional costs, according to some estimates Bohl cited. He said he sees value in a fixed rail system, but believed approving the current proposal is "premature."

"I don't think we have enough to realistically make this vote today," Bohl said of the long-debated project whose federal funds have sat idle since the 1990s.

Ald. Robert Bauman said the utility and moving costs are legitimate concerns, but that the numbers floated during the meeting are "highly debatable."

Ghassan Korban, Department of Public Works commissioner, and city engineer Jeff Polenske emphasized that the project designs are only 30 percent complete and final costs remain unknown. It's unclear whether utility companies or the city would pay to relocate any utility lines for the streetcar project, but the two sides said this week that they're working together to minimize costs.

City residents, business owners and other aldermen expressed overwhelming support for the streetcar in a meeting that lasted more than three hours.

"If we're serious about Milwaukee becoming a major city, we have to do this," said Ald. Willie Wade, who does not serve on the committee but spoke during public comments.

Polenske noted that of U.S. cities with the highest population densities, Milwaukee is the only one without some sort of fixed rail system.

Franklyn Gimbel, chairman of the Wisconsin Center District board of directors, was one of the original backers of the streetcar in the 1990s. He said "inaction has been the guiding principle" with the project.

"We believe the proposal before you today ... makes great sense," Gimbel said. "Its time has not only come, it's overdue."